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| Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan |
In a clear indication of the brewing resentment among different sections of the society over the move to execute the death sentence awarded to 3 persons in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, protests were organized by various groups across the state on Saturday.
In Madurai, members of Makkal Iyakkam (People's Front) staged a protest at Scott Road raising slogans against capital punishment and the UPA government. Advocates owing allegiance to various Tamil organisations have decided to boycott court proceedings for 2 days from August 29. Manitha Urimai Pathukappu Mayyam, a forum for human rights, has planned to take out a rally from the district court to Madurai collectorate on Monday. Several other outfits have also announced protests against execution of the death sentence.
In Coimbatore, a few students of Government Law College, Coimbatore, delayed the departure of Chennai-bound Kovai Express for half an hour on Saturday when they squatted on the railway track at Coimbatore City Junction station. They demanded that the state assembly pass a resolution to commute the death sentence awarded to Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan, who are to be hanged to death on September 9.
A heavy posse of police had camped at both entrances of the railway station to prevent the students from entering the station. But they sneaked into the platform pretending to be passengers. Once inside the station, they started raising slogans against the "hurried move" by the jail authorities to execute the death sentences. They also sought the personal intervention of chief minister J Jayalalithaa to commute the death sentences.
Police intervened half an hour after the protest began and arrested the students. Talking to TOI, student representative Tholkapian said they would continue the agitation with more vigour till they get the death sentence reversed. He also criticised a section of the media for reporting their agitation in a distorted manner. He said the protest by students at the collectorate on August 26 was a genuine attempt to save three precious lives. "We will do our best to ensure they are not hanged, since there are many loopholes in the case. In addition, many facts have not been substantiated," he said.
In Salem, nearly 50 students of central law college took part in the rail roko. Around 11am, they entered the station and squatted on the tracks and raised slogans against the practice of capital punishment. The protestors were arrested and removed in 45 minutes.
In Trichy, cadres of the Communist Party of India and MDMK participated in a "human chain" organised under the auspices of P Nedumaran's Moontru Tamilar Uyirkappu Iyakkam (Movement for Saving the life of Three Tamilians) to protest the "barbaric death sentence". CPI leader Nallakannu spoke at the function. Makkal Kalai Illayakkiya Kazhagam, another group, staged a protest at a different venue. Makkal Kalai Illayakkiya Kazhagam's secretary Sreenivasan said releasing the trio must be the natural corollary of they being in jail for such a long time, and hanging them would bring disrepute to the country.
Nearly a hundred families of Puthupatti village in Theni district observed a day-long fast demanding the Centre to commute the death sentence. The villagers, who gathered in the village yard on Saturday morning, maintained that the death sentence was against humanity and it should not be permitted in a civilised society.
Source: The Times of India, August 28, 2011
Jayalalithaa says she has no powers to stop Rajiv assassins' execution
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday ruled out playing any role in stopping the death sentence of the three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi.
Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, three LTTE cadres convicted in Rajiv's murder, are scheduled to be hanged on September 9. Rajiv was killed by an LTTE suicide squad at Sriperumbudur, about 50 km from Chennai, on May 21, 1991.
Jayalalithaa's statement in the assembly that she has no powers to stop the death sentence after President Pratibha Patil had rejected their plea for mercy, came in the wake of calls made by various political parties, including the DMK, her erstwhile ally MDMK and several rights organizations to her to save the lives of the three condemned prisoners now lodged in Vellore central prison. Haritha, the 19-year-old daughter of Murugan and Nalini, another person involved in the case whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, has also appealed to Jayalalithaa and Sonia Gandhi to save her father's life.
Jayalalithaa sought to clarify that only the President of India has the powers to give clemency to a murder accused. The chief minister of a state does not have such powers, she clarified.
She also recalled a DMK cabinet decision taken in 2000, which advised the governor against considering Nalini's clemency.
"Now he (DMK president M Karunanidhi) is demanding to save them which is nothing but double standards," she charged.
Jayalalithaa also urged other political leaders not to create an impression that she had the powers to revoke the presidential order rejecting the clemency petition.
Source: The Times of India, August 29, 2011
Woman immolates self to protest death penalty for convicts in Rajiv case
A 20-year-old woman immolated herself inside the Taluk office in Kancheepuram on Sunday evening, protesting the death sentence awarded to Santhan, Murugan and G. Perarivalan alias Arivu, convicted of plotting the 1991 assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
P. Senkodi died within two hours after she set herself on fire. She emptied two litres of petrol from a bottle before setting herself ablaze.
Police sources said eyewitnesses had noticed a young woman, dressed in a salwar kameez, walking into the office around 5.45 p.m. Minutes later, they heard a woman's cries and rushed to the spot and noticed her engulfed in a ball of fire. Residents and the skeleton staff of government offices, including the police and fire stations, put out the fire. A government ambulance stationed nearby rushed her to the Government General Hospital, where she succumbed to injuries around 7.30 p.m.
Police sources said Senkodi was completely charred above her waist and her chances of survival were slim when she was brought to the hospital.
Senkodi, they said, had left behind a letter stating that she was protesting the capital punishment awarded to Murugan and Santhan, both Sri Lankan Tamils, and Perarivalan, an Indian, and the subsequent rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. Their execution has been fixed for September 9.
According to these sources, she wanted to emulate K. Muthukumar, a youth who had sought to highlight the sufferings of the Sri Lankan Tamils by immolating himself at Shastri Bhavan in Chennai on January 29, 2009.
A resident of Orikkai village on the outskirts of the temple town, Senkodi was the daughter of Parasuraman. A member of ‘Makkal Mandram,' a non-governmental organisation involved in issues of child and bonded labour in Kancheepuram district, Senkodi participated actively in street theatre performances and other awareness campaigns on issues of social importance, playing the “thappattai,” a traditional percussion instrument.
Source: The Hindu, August 29, 2011
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